


Sick Honesty

by RissiUniverse



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Ambiguous Relationships, Anxiety, Canon Lesbian Relationship, Childhood Friends, Dream and Nightmare are not related, Ecto-Tongue (Undertale), Gaslighting, Gen, Honesty, Inspired by Fanfiction, Interrogation, Light Angst, Mild Language, Nausea, No Plot/Plotless, Oneshot, Passive and Corrupted are the same person, Past Violence, Prison, Restraints, Sorta., Truth Spells, i called them that but didnt think it already existed. oh, i think, truth spell gun go pew pew
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:02:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,861
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27567943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RissiUniverse/pseuds/RissiUniverse
Summary: A little honesty can't hurt, right?
Relationships: Alphys/Undyne (Undertale), Dream & Nightmare, Nightmare & Dream
Comments: 2
Kudos: 35





	Sick Honesty

**Author's Note:**

> I'd like to clarify right off the bat that this oneshot is inspired by The Council of the Inevitable by Onlyplatonicirl, or at least how the fanfic came to be. The council doesn't function the same way, and there's different people in it (I just haven't thought much about who exactly).  
> This fic was just another thing that I wanted to write solely for fun.

Dream paced back and forth in front of the office door anxiously. He held his elbows in his palms, rubbing his fingers over them apprehensively. Finally, the door opened, and he looked up hopefully. 

“Alrighty, come on in, Dream!” Ink chirped. 

The positive guardian sighed in relief, his tense body easing some as he stepped into the office room. Ink closed the door behind him and leaned against it. Dream sat down in the visitor’s chair, and sitting next to Ink’s chair was Swapfell Alphys. 

“So. Am I allowed to meet with Nightmare again?” Dream asked, thumbling with his fingers under the desk on his lap. 

Ink moved back to his chair and sat down again. Dream’s gaze followed him, and they made brief eye contact before Ink rolled his head back casually. “Alphys and I have decided yes! You seem to be pretty good with interrogating him with the Truth Spells, so as long as you get us some extra information about him, we’d like that. Especially since you actually  **want** to go meet him, which we are more than willing to grant if you interrogate him and all that!” Ink rambled. He sat up again and turned to look at Alphys and asked, “I said all of that right, right?” The symbols in his eyes changed as he snickered. “Pff, oh wait, that was redundant.” 

Dream silently cleared his throat. His face felt hot from nervousness. He just felt worried he might be seeming too desperate to speak with the criminal—that maybe he felt sympathy for him, which he didn’t. The truth was that Dream only wanted answers for all that he did, but Nightmare was very good with manipulating the effect of the Truth Spells to still remain honest but dodge the question; a fault with the Truth Spells, as the spells could only prevent the person affected to lie in their responses, not to force the speaker to give the answer you’re exactly looking for (unless the person in question can’t answer any other way but the answer you need). And Nightmare was best at just that: manipulation. (Of course, the spells made it so that any question directed at them forced them to speak at least about the subject, which was indeed handy for those like Horror and Dust; criminals not so willing to speak.) “Right. Well, I’d also like to clarify that I actually  _ want _ to interrogate Nightmare. I don’t talk to him because I feel bad for him. I talk to him for answers,” Dream explained, shifting in his chair. “Does that make sense?” 

Ink nodded. “Even better! Just means you’re willing to interrogate him for us.” 

“I’ll go tell Undyne to retrieve the Truth Spells,” Alphys announced gruffly, standing up to leave. “I’ll get the spare keys for Dream.” 

Ink called out before Alphys could leave, “Okay!! We’ll be right here waiting!” 

Now it was just Dream and Ink. 

They didn’t speak. Ink was obviously too distracted for any real conversation, anyway. 

Soon the Alphys returned. Dream looked back to see when he heard the door opening. Alphys held the door open; Undyne stood in the hallway with a tray of vials. Undyne’s usual grin was marked on her face. “Hey,” Dream greeted, smiling. 

“Let’s get going, Dream,” Alphys barked. 

Dream nodded, not at all flinching. He stood up from his chair and walked to the door. He half glanced at Ink as he stepped into the hallway. Ink was waving at him, so he waved back and turned away again. 

The trio walked to the prison to the section where the worst criminals were kept. Ones that worked together and caused the most pain and suffering in the Multiverse, like Nightmare, Killer, Dust, and Horror just to name a few. Recently, Nightmare had become totally compliant, whereas before he would thrash and gnarl his teeth, trying so desperately to angrily pull through those chains, or to somehow bite off the muzzle over his mouth. The fiery passion emitting from his teal eye… and his emotions. Ohh, his emotions. Dream could sense them from a mile away whenever someone dared to simply step past his cell. It was small from a distance, but when Dream had tried visiting him once before, it was almost a horrific experience for him. Nightmare wasn’t just manipulating his aura, he was legitimately upset, wrathful, enraged, and fueled with the urge to escape. Dream shuddered involuntarily at the thought. 

Alphys didn’t look back as she asked, “You alright there, Dream?” 

Dream nodded. “Yes, I’m fine. Nightmare just… creeps me out. I mean, he did before, but now he’s just terrifying.” 

Alphys didn’t reply. She simply continued to escort Dream. Understandable—he honestly didn’t expect an actual response, anyway. 

Finally, they reached Nightmare’s cell. They walked past Killer’s cell briefly. Dream managed to flick his gaze briskly to see Killer. He was staring at the wall, doing nothing, but turned his head to take a look at who was passing. Dream saw his grin tighten at the sight of him, and he quickly made sure to look forward again so as to not let Killer know he was looking. 

“Here we are! The sick beast in its cell where it belongs,” Undyne snarled, chuckling as she looked through the glass and down into the cell. Nightmare’s cell was deeper than the others; designed just for him. You had to take stairs down to get into it. The lock required five different keys, which Alphys always had on at all times. The Alphys in question already began the process of unlocking it. 

Dream ignored Undyne’s comment. He gulped, thinking to himself as he looked down at Nightmare. Indeed, the goopy beast had his head trapped in a metal compartment, restraining him from being able to move his head to look up. Dream could see from where he was standing that he was trying to see who was entering his cell—teal eye flicked up in his socket, (Alphys had moved to the second door with the last three keys which must have alerted him with the sound), but Dream knew he couldn’t see who was here just yet. He let out a sigh, moving to follow Alphys, Undyne following him. 

Once the door was unlocked, Dream followed Alphys down the stairs. Nightmare let out a low growl, his brow furrowed as he glared at Dream, lips curled behind the muzzle. This was certainly an improvement, sure, but an absolutely dreadful feeling came over Dream… Was he planning something? Well, of course he is, he’s  _ Nightmare _ . The positive guardian shook his head as he walked in front of Nightmare and looked over him briefly. Nightmare was sitting on his knees, his head in the metal compartment, muzzle over his mouth and his ankles and wrists chained tightly as to restrict all movement. He just couldn’t be trusted with any sort of freedom, regardless how compliant and nice he was acting. Everyone knew this. 

“Hello… Nightmare,” Dream greeted carefully. He half expected Nightmare to try and lunge forward, gnashing his teeth and snarling, but Nightmare remained perfectly still. Dream tensed and held his ground, staring down Nightmare, who stared right back; neutral expression on his face, but the way his teal eye blazed told all he needed to know. 

“… Dream,” Nightmare eventually returned, gaze lowering in just the slightest, and the blaze in his eye diminished. Yet, it was still there. 

Dream gulped, looking to Undyne, who was preparing the vials for the Truth Spells. She poured the material into the spell gun. He looked back to Nightmare and proclaimed, “We’re going to be interrogating you again.” 

Nightmare smirked, snorting. He sneered, “Oh really? Do you think you’ll get anything more useful than what you already have out of me? You’ll just fail again.” His lips curled as he teased him. 

Dream glared at him, before half glancing to see Undyne had the gun pointed at Nightmare’s head. He closed his eyes but heard the odd bell noises the gun makes when shot. He didn’t like seeing the white flash go over the person’s face—it looked too scary to him. After just a few seconds, he knew it was safe to look again. He was met with the glossy white-over teal eye of Nightmare, who seethed at his positive counterpart with loathing. 

First question. “What was your motive, Nightmare?” 

“My suffering.” 

Dream refrained from biting down on his lip. He asked a question too vaguely. “No, Nightmare. What was your motive for corrupting? To hurt all those innocent people?” 

Again, Nightmare answered, “My suffering.” 

Dream stifled a retort. He had to remain patient. He didn’t want to give any more power to him via emotions anyway, whether he could do anything with them or not. “Elaborate.” 

Nightmare’s eye twitched. It was very brief, but he caught it. “Those villagers, Dream. All they did was harass and taunt me, until it was more than just empty threats,” he growled, guttural and low as his ferocious eye returned. 

Dream blinked, flinching. “What-?!” 

“You wouldn’t understand. Don’t bother with it,” Nightmare stated bluntly. The corners of his lips curled in a smirk. “It doesn’t matter, anyway, Dream.” His frown quickly became a thin grin across his face, eyebrow creating a clear false sense of sympathy. “You remember what I said all those years ago, telling you not to forget who I used to be.” Nightmare appeared to want to lift his head up, likely to appear more condescending, but realized he couldn’t and grunted quietly but continued. “Those villagers’ deaths are all your fault, you know. Their screams of panic and pain and misery knowing their loved ones were out bleeding on the ground. You failed to stop me, Dream, and it’s all your—”

“Stop it. Stop talking,” Dream demanded. “You’re getting off topic.” Dream’s voice remained confident, yet he swore he could feel it waver some. He felt like he might start crying on the spot, but he knew that’s exactly what Nightmare wanted. It WASN’T his fault that Nightmare slaughtered all those innocent people; all of those villagers under the influence of his poor decisions. 

Nightmare grumbled a deep chuckle of amusement and retorted, “Whatever you say… little lamb.” 

“Why do you call me that, anyway?” Dream asked, perking a brow. 

Nightmare’s socket half-lidded as his eye made contact with Dream’s gaze casually. “You’re so small and weak. I’m so much larger than you and that much more powerful. It only takes a matter of seconds for my tentacles to coil around you and prepare to rip you limb from—” 

“That’s enough,” Dream intercepted, shaking his head. “Good God. You’re such a horror show to work with,” he muttered. His negative counterpart most likely heard the comment, but if he did, he did not respond to it. Dream briefly recalled the fact that Nightmare had actually enlarged in size right before the Omega Council managed to get him chained up—no one is truly sure why or how just yet. “Next question. Why is it that you grew in size before you were chained up here? And how?” 

Nightmare coughed. “It was a last resort. I don’t normally make myself this size, as it drains more of my energy to do tasks as it takes more Negativity to maintain this size—and I would have gone back by now if your beloved council members allowed me to have magic here,” he answered. 

“You know we won’t.” 

Nightmare snorted. “Oh, I’m aware. I understand.” 

Dream rolled his eyes, but briefly straightened his position. “Anyways. Do you have any plan of escape? If you do, what is that plan?” 

Nightmare lowered his brow, and for a moment he seemed genuinely upset by this question, as though it bothered him; like he was hoping Dream would forget to ask a question such as this. Dream smirked. His negative counterpart growled momentarily before he was forced to respond due to the spells. “I do. Just as any locked up supreme villain would.” Nightmare rocked in his chains sideways. Dream watched him closely, brows furrowing. “It isn’t much of one. All I’m doing is biding my time. Waiting, listening, watching. Waiting for you to make a mistake; listening, and paying attention; watching. Biding my power as it grows.” He grinned. “You can’t keep me locked away forever, Dream. None of you can, and none of you will.” 

The positive guardian refrained from rocking back and forth on his heels. “I wouldn’t rely on that if I were you,” Dream barked with a surge of confidence. “The Omega Timeline is entirely stable as of now. It should stay that way for a long, long time, especially since people like you are locked away.” 

Nightmare chuckled. “That’s true… mostly.” 

Dream felt a growl of his own rise in his throat. “Excuse me?” 

“I know things you don’t, Dream.” 

“Like what?!” He snapped. “YOU’RE the one locked away. You are literally meant to know less than I do!”

Dream felt a tap on his shoulder, and before Nightmare could respond, Dream looked over. “Yes?” 

It was Alphys. “Try not to get too personal with him, dimrod! Stay on task.” 

Despite the name, Alphys was right. Dream shook his head and pinched his nose with two fingers. Despite the ominous feeling of Nightmare’s warning, which he ignored the feeling, Dream had to stay on task, she was right. Once he cleared his head again, he looked back at Nightmare, who had a shit eating grin. “Explain what you meant by biding your power.” 

Nightmare chuckled. “Just because you’ve restrained my magic doesn’t mean my  _ power _ doesn’t still grow. There’s nothing you can prevent from that happening, either, but I know you and your beloved council will still try anyway.” 

Dream narrowed his eyes. “Elaborate.” 

“I don’t know how else to make it more obvious to you. Do I need to spell it out?” Nightmare sneered. “The emotions around me, Dream. I feel them. My aura gathers them. Near or far—I collect all of it, even if I don’t want to.” 

Now, his throat was feeling dry. He couldn’t have been lying because of the Truth Spells, and it was far too early for the Truth Spell to even wear off yet… Which means not a word of that could have been false in any way, and none of it even seemed to be manipulated, oddly enough. Dream glanced at Undyne, and she exchanged the look, shrugging with a frown tugged at her teeth. Dream looked back at Nightmare nervously, but continued with a gulp. “Nightmare. Who was it that allowed you to come into the Omega Timeline?” Dream asked bluntly, raising his voice in confidence. 

Nightmare smiled. “Ink did.” 

Dream winced. Immediately, he wanted to loudly oppose it. “No, that’s not—” 

Nightmare chuckled. “You think your friend is safe, Dream? Do you think he cares about you at all?” He questioned. Nightmare’s brow lowered and he seemed to feel victorious as he watched Dream sink in realization that he was telling the truth with the spell. “He’s not. He’s anything BUT a savior, little sheep.” 

_ He can’t be telling the truth! He’s lying! _ His thoughts bombarded. However, the more rational side of him, a realistic part of him let itself known.  _ He was too blunt to be a lie with the spell. He is not lying. Ink let him into the Omega Timeline.  _ “M-Maybe it was just all by mistake,” Dream muttered, holding his head. He felt like he was going to collapse as he took a step back, losing his confident grace. 

“It probably was,” Nightmare chimed in smoothly. 

Dream looked back up, eyebrow quirked. “What?” 

“Please don’t make me explain even further than what I already have. I simply tried to come in, and it let me in the time I tried to. I just know it was Ink that permitted my access.” 

Dream furrowed his brows and gulped. He had no idea what he should even do about this. He glanced at Undyne again, who simply made eye contact and shrugged with tight shoulders. Alphys moved past Dream and toward Undyne, motioning that Dream follow her and Undyne to the corner to huddle. Dream followed, and there they entered the soundproof box that was in said corner. It was able to fit at the most 20 people, in case somehow Nightmare WAS to escape and people were trapped in here. 

“Okay. So,” Undyne barked, not wasting time. When the door shut, she spoke. “What we just heard is extremely concerning and frightening, is it not?” 

Alphys nodded vigorously. “Are you kidding me?! INK!?! How DARE he let Nightmare into the Omega Timeline!” She screeched. 

“This is…” Dream trailed off, but he lost words. He felt sick; he felt like his nonexistent guts were going to flop, moths fluttering in his rib cage. He felt nauseous. He held his forehead and bit his lip as he stared at the carpeted, pure white floor. “What do we even do with this information!?” 

Undyne sighed, about to speak, but was cut off by Alphys. “We hold a council meeting without him. By we, I mean you, but we have to be there to support the fact that we were witnesses to this and have recordings of Nightmare’s Truths.” 

Dream nodded. He still felt sick, and he felt weak enough to collapse if someone were to nudge him. He looked back up to Alphys. “Okay, okay. Yes. You’re right.” He gulped. “Do we finish the questions we had?” 

“Is there anything else we could ask about that fucking traitor and the Omega Timeline?” Undyne asked. “What Nightmare may know about Error having access to it at one point?” 

“That’s a good idea,” Dream agreed. Shakily, he inhaled.  _ Come on, Dream. Process this, _ he told himself, balling his fists into his clothes. He just found this so hard to believe.  _ Why would Ink even do this!? _

Undyne hummed in musing, tapping her chin. “I think that would be the last question, though.” 

“Gotcha.” 

Dream again nodded. Wordlessly, the trio left the soundproof room, closing the door behind them appropriately. 

The three of them returned to their positions. Nightmare’s grin was short but prominent as he asked, “Did you question my little bit of honesty there? The cold truth?” He sneered. “Oh, I’m glad. I feel your negativity, Dream, but your optimism stands tall, doesn’t it? But it’s wavering, you know… You want this to all be a lie, don’t you?” 

The positive guardian straightened his position boldly, pointing his chest. “I’ll be asking the questions here,” Dream replied confidently. He still felt shaken and pent up with anxiety and confusion, but he would have to ignore it for now. “Nightmare. Do you know anyone else that Ink could have given access to? Any confirmation?” 

“No,” Nightmare answered simply. 

Dream furrowed his brows. “What about Error?” 

“No.” 

Dream glanced to Undyne. Undyne finished recording it and looked back up to Dream. 

“I have one more question that we wanted to reserve for the next interrogation,” Dream announced. Nightmare said nothing, simply lazily blinking. “How would we remove the apples from you?” 

Nightmare yawned momentarily. It seemed real, but it was still annoying. Dream curled his lips in disgust at the sight of not only his fangs, but the unnecessary summoned construct formed in his mouth which had a teal glow. As soon as his trap shut, he spoke. “To be honest, Dream, I don’t actually know. Why research something that I wouldn’t want to happen, anyway? It won’t. Besides, how would I find out that information?” 

“So you’re saying you never got around to it,” Dream questioned, squinting his eyes, but his brows remained furrowed. 

Nightmare chuckled. “Out of confidence, yes.” 

“I see.” Dream was unamused with this childish conclusion, but that was all he needed to know. 

That was all the official questions. 

They stepped out of the chamber. Undyne and Alphys would leave to document all that was questioned and answered officially. (Even Dream getting personal, he realized, shaking his head and pinching his skeletal nose.) 

With that aside, now Dream could return to ask his own questions. He already borrowed a spare of the five keys necessary; the council had two spares for occasions such as this one. 

When Dream walked down the steps, he saw that prowling eye land on him. Nightmare smirked. “Come to visit me, starboy?” 

“That’s an old nickname,” Dream acknowledged halfheartedly. He walked in front of Nightmare again. He remembered the Ink ordeal and quickly pushed it down in his mind—who knows if the Spell was simply malfunctioning… 

“Would you rather I have called you ‘little lamb’? I thought that nickname made you uncomfortable.” 

“I’m over it,” Dream responded, rolling his golden eyelights. 

“Good for you.” 

Dream shook his head. “Nightmare. What is your general view of me? What did you think of me?” 

Nightmare chuckled maliciously. “Oh, I  _ hate _ you. I hate you so much. I say I want to tear you apart. I want to throw you into a pit of flames and watch your body crush and burn.” 

“Mhmmm.” 

“Fighting you is so enjoyable—watching you flex and turn and dodge.” 

“Wait. Stop. How is that enjoyable?” Dream questioned. 

Nightmare grunted. “It means you’re struggling, and I feed off of that.” 

Dream nodded. “Okay. That’s what you want me to think, isn’t it?” 

Nightmare looked as though he wanted to hold back the truth, but the Spell didn’t allow it. Nightmare then blurted, “Yes.” He tried shaking his head vigorously in the restraint but couldn’t. “Oh, God dammit. Fuck the Truth Spells. Dream, I wouldn’t ask for the truth if I were you. You wouldn’t like it.” 

“I already don’t like it,” Dream argued. “I don’t like  _ any _ of this. Yet here we are.” 

Nightmare’s eye narrowed, zoning in on Dream, anticipating the next question Dream wanted to ask. He decided he would answer it after this one. “What did you use to think of me? Before the Incident?” 

Nightmare relaxed, but it looked as though he was still reluctant to comply. Before the Spell could bite, he answered cautiously, “I loved you. I loved you more than I could bear. I wanted nothing but to be with you, but  **they** took you away. They took  _ me _ away.” Nightmare’s lips pursed in disgust. “Bleh. Mushy.” 

The positive guardian thought for a moment. “Elaborate on ‘them.’ What do you mean?” 

“The villagers,” Nightmare blurted. 

“What about them?” 

“They hurt me. They did nothing  _ but _ hurt me.” Nightmare cringed, hissing. 

Dream’s heart dropped, and suddenly, he pieced it all together. “W-Wait. So, all this time you had been—?” 

“Lying to you?” Nightmare answered. “Deceiving you? Relieving you of the truth you didn’t need to bear?” 

Dream’s face pinched up out of the frustration of that response, but the angry façade quickly rushed away as the sadness poured over him. “You… You lied to me. You didn’t trust me,” he choked out, crestfallen. 

Nightmare snorted in amusement. “Go ahead and cry. Nothing you can say will change the past, little lamb.” 

  
_ I know. _

**Author's Note:**

> I'd let Dream ask the next question, but then the fic would have to be rated Mature. 
> 
> Nightmare did get away with lying about some things, though.


End file.
